Lobbying for HL2 Benchmark Demo

CowManDec 3, 2003, 4:05 AM

Ok, I can't be the only one out there who wishes Half-Life 2 was released when they SAID it was going to be. It's hard to believe but HL2 is starting to look like another Team Fortress 2 or Duke Nukem Forever. Not to jinx it or anything.Tom's Hardware put up a great article a couple months ago with the tech-demo, comparing several video cards from nVidia and ATI. It was really great to see how real computers would handle the new source engine, but I was kind of shocked to see a 3.2Ghz computer brought to its knees in 1024x768. I don't exactly know how to go about doing this but I think that a petition needs to be started to get Valve to release its techdemo to the public. Y'know, let people know if their system is going to be able to handle the game alright, or whether they need to upgrade. It's great that Tom's got their hands on the benchmarking software, but it would be even better if end-users could test their systems before rushing out to buy the newest line of video cards or processors and making unecessary purchases.I can understant if Valve or Vivendi or Sierra or whoever is running the show now is concerned about people having too much access to the source engine before HL2's release, but with the "great source code caper" in the past, hasn't the damage been done? What more could go wrong if gamers just get a taste of how their system will perform with the source engine?

From what I've read it seems that HL2 wasn't even close to being released when they reported the code was stolen. In other words I don't think that tech demo would do you any good since there will surely be a lot of optimization done before April or whenever it is finally released.

_________________________________________<font color=red>12 bit... The way games are meant to be played!</font color=red>

For whatever it is worth. The leaked/stolen code is available all over on the web, and after playing with it, I don't give much creedence to the THG tests. I palyed it on my computer at 1280x1024 4xAA 4xAF with no noticable problems (apart from the missing textures and things associated with a partial codebase). If you wanted to be a badass, just put together your own benchmark demo. I think that there is enough there to work with...

That's true. I ran it on my 9800 Pro, AXP 1800+ with then 512 MB ram and it ran 1280x1024 at 2x AA and 8X Aniso at 65 fps fairly constant. It dipped down to 40s a few times, and was hitting 220 when staring at walls. It's definitely playable on today's hardware.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

That's the stupidest thing ever. Whoever started that "idea" on the internet should be shot. Let's leak the code we've been working on for years to the internet for everyone to see. Better yet, let's include the physics engine we licensed so we can open ourselves up to a lawsuit. Better still, let's do all of this so we can force ourselves to re-write the code causing an even BIGGER delay.

Or we can just say "it's not ready," and take the flak for it.

Gee which option would you choose?

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

The saddest thing about the whole HL2 fiasco is that ATi is advertising the game all over the friggin' place, and it's still months away from release!! Even despite the delays ATi is trumpeting "a match made in heaven- ATi 9600 and 9800 series graphics cards and HL2", a one-page ad in Stuff magazine. They're trying to sucker people into upgrading- five months ahead of time and paying inflated holiday prices on cards that will drop significantly in price by the time the damn game actually hits shelves. Geez, by then the NV40s and R400s will be ready for launch.